Kronos Quartet Performance at Gualala Arts

For 50 years, San Francisco’s famed Kronos Quartet—David Harrington (violin), John Sherba (violin), Hank Dutt (viola), and Paul Wiancko (cello)—has reimagined what the string quartet experience can be.

One of the most celebrated and influential groups of our era will perform in concert at Gualala Arts on Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 4 p.m.

General admission tickets are $25 advance, $5 more the day of the performance. Special Sponsor Tickets in support of Gualala Arts are also available for $100 and include cabaret style table seating close to the stage as well as a complimentary beverage of your choice. All tickets can be purchased at EventBrite.com, Gualala Arts Center, and at the Dolphin Gallery.

This year’s performance at the Gualala Arts Center is a special fundraiser dedicated to raising funds specifically designated for rising costs of Property and Fire Insurance. All proceeds from this concert will go directly to Gualala Arts in conjunction with the “Together for the Arts” inaugural fundraiser in September.

Music scheduled for the September performance includes:

• Gabriella Smith / Excerpt from NEW WORK *

• Peni Candra Rini (arr. Jacob Garchik) / Maduswara **

• Stephan Thelen / Circular Lines **

• Sigur Rós (arr. Stephen Prutsman) / Flugufrelsarinn (The Fly Freer) +

• Nicole Lizée / Death to Kosmische *

• Aleksandra Vrebalov / Gold Came From Space * preview

Note: * Written for Kronos; ** Written for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire; + Arranged for Kronos. Subject To Change.

Integral to Kronos’s work is a series of long-running commissioning collaborations with hundreds of composers worldwide, including Terry Riley, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Tanya Tagaq, Philip Glass, inti figgis-vizueta, Fodé Lassana Diabaté, and Steve Reich. In its most ambitious commissioning effort to date, Kronos Performing Arts Association has recently completed Kronos Fifty for the Future. Through this initiative, Kronos has commissioned—and distributed online for free—50 new string quartet works written by composers from around the world.

In recordings, Kronos has collaborated with artists including Wu Man, Zakir Hussain, Asha Bhosle, Mahsa Vahdat, and Nine Inch Nails. Kronos has performed live with the likes of Paul McCartney, Allen Ginsberg, Rokia Traoré, David Bowie, Rhiannon Giddens, Caetano Veloso, and The National, among many others.

Kronos’ expansive discography on Nonesuch includes three Grammy-winning albums—Terry Riley’s Sun Rings (2019), Landfall with Laurie Anderson (2018), and Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite (2003)—along with dozens of other acclaimed releases. Kronos’s most recent recording is Mỹ Lai (2022), an opera by Jonathan Berger and Harriet Scott Chessman. Kronos’ work has also featured prominently in many films, including the live documentary A Thousand Thoughts, written and directed by Sam Green and Joe Bini, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018.

September 24 is a wonderful opportunity to embrace the music and the brilliant musicianship of this unique group. As the New York Times wrote, “The Kronos Quartet has broken the boundaries of what string quartets do.” Come in September and discover, or rediscover, the Kronos Quartet.

The Kronos Quartet has performed at Gualala Arts Center  twice, in 2009 and 2012, each time to capacity crowds and rave reviews. In  2016, Gualala Arts hosted a DVD screening party of “The Sea Ranch Songs”, performed by the Kronos Quartet, as part of The Sea Ranch’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. The program for the September 24 concert will feature new works and signature pieces from the quartet’s vast repertoire.